1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the management of data files. Even more specifically, the present invention relates to a system and method for partially deleting a data file.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Personal video recorders (PVR), also known as digital video recorders (DVR) are electronic devices that are used for storing audio and video information received over any number of communication channels. The audio and video information is stored as a data file on a memory device of the PVR. The data file can be very large. For example, a two hour program at 3 megabits per second has a file size of 2.7 gigabytes. A large amount of memory is needed to store one file of this size and users of a PVR generally store multiple files. Because of the large size of the video files, the amount of memory available on the PVR is a limited resource. Thus there is a need for a user to easily manage the files that are recorded on the PVR.
In a PVR application, a user records television programs of varying length onto a high capacity storage device. The high capacity storage device is limited in size, thus only a finite number of programs can be recorded. Thus, there is a need for the user of a PVR to easily be able to control the storage of television programs on the high capacity storage device in order to optimize the limited size of the high capacity storage device.